Minnesota Twins' Bats Continue To Struggle

By Caroline Ponessa

David Butler II – USA Today Sports

The Minnesota Twins were shut out for the 13th time this season on Saturday, again proving their inability to perform at the plate.

The struggle isn’t limited to certain parts of the lineup either. Only one regular player on the roster maintains an average above .300, and that is Joe Mauer (who has been on the disabled list since early August). The Twins currently rank 26th in MLB in team batting average with .241. The only teams behind Minnesota are the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Miami Marlins.

With runners in scoring position, the Twins rank 28th with a poor .228 average.

The numbers don’t lie; the teams who don’t perform well at the plate are the same teams that have fallen entirely out of playoff contention. Throughout the roster, the Twins lack power. Brian Dozier leads the team with 17 home runs and has shown some versatility at the plate, but 17 still does not crack Dozier into the top 60 in the league.

Josh Willingham, who hit 35 home runs for the Twins last year, is failing to come through on the slugging front this season and has only gone deep 14 times in 2013. This type of disappointment has been widespread for the Twinkies this season and has undoubtedly led to their demise. While the pitching rotation is obviously also to blame, a team can’t expect to win games if they can’t score runs.

Caroline Ponessa is a Minnesota Twins writer for RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter @sweetCaro_____